I had to take antibiotics to get rid of some bad bacteria. So after reading all the comments on this blog (yes, I read all 32 pages before this page), it seems that I must need to repopulate the good critters. At least that seems like a place to start, and see if it works.

I do not understand the comments that probiotics do not "stick". It seems to me that any critters will reside the same as any other critters.

I appreciate all of the comments. I hope that everyone finds a solution for what is causing their basketball tummy. It is horrible. I'll let you know if probiotics helps after the antibiotics.

I'll summarize here my observations after having read all 32 pages of comments. Maybe this will help someone who does not have time to read all of the comments:

1) Doctors seem to be clueless in their diagnosis of bloated stomachs.2) The people on this blog who say they have been cured, did so in the following ways: a) 1 HCL tablet/Pepsin tablet before eating (needed more stomach acid) b) consuming acidic food, especially grape juice, possibly apple cider vinegar, vitimin C, or cranberry juice c) probiotics, especially if you have been taking antibiotics d) digestive enzymes from a vitimin store

MeToo wrote:I do not understand the comments that probiotics do not "stick". It seems to me that any critters will reside the same as any other critters.

It seems that You & Jack Bean seem to have something in common, or you both are one and and the same person. You just post for the sake of posting without educating yourself.

You seem to think that eating yogurt or taking a probiotic that may have a handful of live bacteria in it by the time you buy it and put it in your mouth is going to miraculously cure you, IF that handful can even survive the stomach acid!!!??? Or what IF that handful is the wrong strain & is rendered useless against the strain you are trying to kill or what IF you are over populated with that strain in the 1st place & it is the reason for the bloating as there is an eco-balance war going on.

You also seem to be under the same delusion of Jack Bean that all the critters, as you call them are the same species so that just taking yogurt or probiotics is going to kill them!!!???

If it were that easy, then people would not have died from stomach ulcers, or the millions of ppl that suffer from intestinal problems. And what about Candida, which is the hardest to eradicate.ALL CRITTERS AS YOU PUT IT ARE NOT THE SAME......PERIOD! Sheeesh, talk about misinformation!

If you did read all the posts on this site, then you would have done your own research as to the links, doctors or nutritional info that was left for others to research to educate themselves as to what does and does not work.

Probiotics are a band aide plain and simple and anyone with SIBO's WILL ATTEST TO THE FACT THAT WHEN THEY STOP USING PROBIOTICS THEIR PROBLEM COMES BACK WITH A VENGEANCE.

And pretty much everyone who does their homework, also learns that these parasites ARE ADHERED to the problematic area of the body......they just don't float around. And that is why they win!

If a person suspects that they have SIBO's, then they would be wise to get a medical check up to confirm this and to find out what species of SIBO they have and take it from there. All critters are NOT the same and different measures must be taken to eradicate them.

Not all antibiotics are the same, they target specific bacteria's, therefore it would stand to reason that all critters are NOT the same.........period!

JackBean wrote:well, you still didn't tell us, how you get the special bacteria, if they do not survive in the stomach...

Yes I did. In one of my posts below, I said that if you studied Dr. Borody in Australia, you would see what I am saying about intestinal flora, how they live & fight with each other for territory and the use of Probiotics to be true.I also said that since probiotics don't adhere to the intestinal linings, WHICH IS A MUST, and are pooped out the next day, that I figured out to feed the existing good guys with the foods they need to win the battle against the bad guys, will increase their numbers, increase their space on the intestinal wall, the bad guys (which are also necessary for our good health) will be kept in check and all will be well.I also said to google search: foods that feed the good bacteria.Then google search: foods that feed the bad bacteria.

The only way for someone to really understand this is to do their own homework.For me to type all this info would require a book on my part. Now there's an idea!

Once you start to feel better, healthier, then you can resume a normal healthy diet. The reason for this is that you don't want to over-populate the good guys either. Why, bcos to much of them creates problems as well. You want to maintain a balanced ecosystem of both good and bad guys. They each have an important function for our health.

Viruses are a whole other bunch of critters that even antibiotics can't get rid of. ONLY ORGANIC garlic and onions will do that for you. The conventional ones have been GMO'd.Monsanto approached the Supreme Court about 12-15 yrs ago to ban the sale of these foods, claiming that they were medicines. The supreme court turned them down. Since then, garlic is not the same as it use to be. GMO'd.Even my Veterinarian had a 1 yr long nasty cough she could not get rid of. She claimed that in her culture they eat lots of garlic and onions, but nothing was helping. After she finished checking out my cat, I rushed to get her ORGANIC GARLIC & ONIONS and left them with her.Next mth I had to return with my cat & her cough was completely gone. Her mom, who does all the cooking for the family said that this was like the real garlic and onions back home. (Meaning not North America). So you see, whenever you google search for natural foods to heal you, you have to make sure they are not dead foods, or they will not work.By dead foods I mean GMO'd or packed in Vinegar, ie: pickles & sauerkraut that are sold on store shelves (are packed with water and vinegar) rather than in the refrigerator sections and the label stating: water & salt.Salt brine foods feed the good guys.The internet is full of healing foods, but the authors neglect to state these important facts.

Within 1 week a person eating Organic garlic, pressed thru the garlic press, spread onto a piece of buttered toast (butter not to be melted), & sprinkled with sea salt, eaten 3 times a day, well the person will see remarkable results in their health.Also, eating salt brine foods will also speed up the healing process. Google search: list of salt brine foods.Once healed, just make sure to have some helpings of these foods through out the week, to make sure the good guys still get the nourishment they need.

Also, KNOW ONE KNOWS WHICH SPECIAL BACTERIA YOU NEED. That's the point. If you do somehow manage to get a probiotic that will survive your stomach acids, who knows if it is the one that you need. ie: I bloat like crazy if I eat organic or conventional yogurt. Yet, if I drink Organic Buttermilk, my bloating goes down within days and my IBS attacks diminish. Conventional buttermilk does nothing for me.

I also wrote to (I should not post the company name) about their Activia yogurt, cheese & told them that they are misleading the public. That they could not guarantee that by the time the product got to the consumer, that there would be anything alive. They agreed.....but marketing is marketing.If you checked out the IBS forums, you would see how many sufferers found it very constipating. Not Good.So you see, it is better just to feed the existing bacteria (which is many different varieties) the foods they need and let them work it out for themselves.

Intestinal flora (bacteria) is one thing, but the viruses and parasites are a whole different kettle of, as you put it critters, that need drastic measures to be rid of them. Antibiotics cannot kill them.

That is why, when a person is ill, they should see a doctor that can diagnose just what kind of critter it is, that is doing all the harm. Then one will know what to look for to do the healing. Yet there is no way for doctors to see what intestinal flora (bacteria) is the one you are low in. So that is why it is better to feed them what they need and let them work it out for themselves. They propagate so fast, that within 3-4 days you should see results.

btw: Intestinal bacteria, good and bad, are needed in the large bowel, in a proper balance. Intestinal bacteria DO NOT live in the stomach. The acid would kill them. SIBO means Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth. Which means that the intestinal bacteria, whether good or bad, travelled up from the large intestine (bowel) to the small intestine, where they are not suppose to be, and this is causing problems. And that is another whole different process to get them out of there.And then there is something called Leaky Gut Syndrome.....and that too is a whole different matter. Celiacs suffer from this.

So please do not confuse intestinal flora, parasites and viruses. Oh, and worms!

After an antibiotic treatment, one should focus on the right foods to rebuild the existing flora that are already adhered to the intestinal track. There is NO test to determine which ones you need. Ask your doctor.

Just remember not to buy into all the marketing hype. Study how ppl use to eat before the early 70's. They ALL ate the way I am talking about. They ate live foods not dead foods like we have today.

All those old movies you see on TV, well, if you study some movie history, you would learn that those movie stars, especially in the love scenes, reeked of garlic, onions and salt brine herring! Try a tender love scene with that smell. lolololol

For any of you who have sought medical advise and are still at wit's end with a painful, bloated stomach etc...maybe eliminating foods with Sylicylates could be a very simple solution. It's really worth it and it's been my saviour.

(Sylicylate is the chemical that occurs naturally in alot of plants - basically, it helps plants from 'breaking down' too quickly. It's prevelant in many fruits and veges - pineapple, oranges, pumpkin, avacado, dried fruits, tomato or any tomato products are the worst for me. Watch out for beer and wine too. Rice, meat (unprocessed), and potato are 'god-sends'.)

Now I've been free of pain and the revolting other affects that go along with this food allergy/intolerance, I've found myself again and I'm enjoying life as it should be enjoyed.

I hope this info is useful for you. I wish I'd found my solution earlier - I have some time to catch up on now - too many hours of my life wasted on trying to placate an angry, attention-seeking stomach.

Reply to CheeMiss - It appears that you did not actually read my comment, rather it appears that you responded on the basis that my comments did not agree with your existing thinking.

CheeMiss wrote: "Or what IF that handful is the wrong strain & is rendered useless against the strain you are trying to kill"

If you had read my comment, I was given antibiotics that killed any and everything in sight. So bacteria needs to be repopulated. Your first response did not discuss repopulating bacteria, once antibiotics have eliminated bacteria. I am not trying to kill any bacteria, lol. Read, read, read, before complaining.

Now I see that you wrote a second comment, with some better explanation, including "research it for yourself". lol Yes, I will research it for myself, however this is a forum where you can provide your highlights from your research, to assist people. Research it for yourself, is not really the help most people here seem to be seeking.

By the way, Jack Bean and I are not the same person. It seems there are 2 people who do not find your posts compelling. Maybe you can do better?

Go ahead, CheeMiss, and inform us how to get the special bateria needed to digest food, including any such super proprietary personally researched info that you feel personally too arrogant to share. lol

MeToo wrote:Reply to CheeMiss - I was given antibiotics that killed any and everything in sight.

Are you kidding me????? Are you serious? Ask any medic if antibiotics kills everything in site. The answer is NO. It kills most, but NOT all.

Antibiotics have been around since I was a KID in the late 50's and we were given antibiotics for many, many, many reasons.......most kids and people were.....and NO ONE DIED!NO ONE EVEN HEARD OF RE-POPULATING FRIENDLY BACTERIA WITH PROBIOTICS!

Back then, all people around the world, ate the way I posted. Everyone knew to eat live foods.

I really am not going to debate this subject any longer. WHY? Bcos the reasoning here is pure and simple ignorance and support of advertising and not the TRUTH! This is just a waste of my time. Educate yourself before you look to argue an ignorant point.And by ignorant, I do not mean stupid, I mean not knowledgeable of real facts.Keep buying into the marketing ploy if it suits you.......!

You are partly right, and partly wrong, and maybe you should chill out and stop with the superior tone.

First, Dr Borodny might be (on small sample studies) advocating the use of fecal transplant. Great. It seems to be beneficial in some limited case, namely Clostridium difficile infections. Those are nasty bugger able to form spores and really hard to cure with antibiotics, so alternatives are good. I doubt however that fecal transplant is the common way to get bacteria in your intestine. They usually come through the other end, surviving the stomach acid and other perils. Food and large numbers help with that. And fecal transplant is probably best left to cases where the problems are recurring and need treatments that ou should probably not do at home.It is also true that both pro- and pre-biotics (probiotics: live good bacteria; prebiotics: food supposed to improve the growth of the naturally present good bacteria) as sold by the big food company have little or no long term effect on the bacterial flora in the intestine. But some serious work on the subject have demonstrated clinical benefits of some strains (rather than species).And in general the complexity of the bacterial flora makes it hard (but not completely impossible) to have a good idea of what is happening in there. Right now tools like 16S-DGGE or TGGE allow to have an idea of the species composition of complex samples, the development of what is known as next generation sequencing is likely to improve that even more, but this is just starting and there quite a few biases and kinks to solve. But we are still very far from getting at the strain level (different subgroup belonging to the same species). Although we know that this is probably relevant.Your point about live and dead pickled food is quite fun and wrong. The addition of vinegar, and salt, during pickling is done to select for the acid tolerant bacteria (very few of them, if any at all, are pathogenic) and prevent the development of the spoilage bacteria that would otherwise happen. The addition of vinegar is not essential as many of those are able to produce the necessary acids, but it can help by giving them an edge over the competition (so no risk of spoiled batch of sauerkraut), this does not mean that there are no bacteria in the pickles. However if they have been canned, then you can assume that there is nothing left. But those bacteria are the same that you would find in the probiotics, and are as likely to establish their permanent residence in your gut than any other probiotic. Meaning possible, not likely. In addition, at least wrt sauerkraut, if you know what is good for you, you wash the brine off, sodium is not healthy and drinking brine is not going to feed the good bacteria, and reheat it in wine or beer. It tastes much better. Of course there will be no bacteria left, but that is not important

Patrick

Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without
any proof. (Ashley Montague)

I am currently experimenting with probiotics. I have found 2 kinds, 1 in a normal capsule (that may or may not survive stomach acid), and another in a capsule that says "enteric Guard", which is supposed to be a capsule designed to not break apart until it is out of the stomach.

I am trying first to dilute my stomach acid by drinking 12 ounces of water, then eating something supposed to be good like bananas, and put these probiotic capsules in the mix of food. About 4 capsules per day, 2 non-enteric, 2 enteric, with different bacteria in each. Maybe the critters will survive?

I am only 3 days on this plan so far. However, for the first time in about 9 months, I can actually poke my tummy in. Before it was so hard, it would not go in at all. As it lets itself be poked in, I am wrapping big back straps around it, not letting my tummy come back out. So far so good. Each day I have been able to tighten the straps, forcing the fluid out.

I am going to keep this going for a couple of weeks, and then see if the excess fluid in my tummy is gone for good. I'll let you know.

I just thought that I was getting fat (60+ lbs. in the past year or so) but this weekend, my sister-in-law went clothes shopping with me and expressed the opinion that something was not normal with my abdomen. Unlike many who have posted, my distension doesn't come and go with food consumption - I always look about 7 months pregnant. It doesn't wax and wane. I have a physical coming up and I think this abdominal weirdness is gonna be first on my list of concerns to be addressed. Thanks for listening & best of luck to everyone!

I am so thankful to find this site... I have been going through this for only a couple months... In Aug. I realized I had gained a lot of weight because I couldn't button my jeans anymore (which had always been big on me), but always being a small girl, I was happy! I went to the Dr. in Sept. for Birth control, and found out I had gained 15 pounds in 6 months. With the bloating I first assumed I was pregnant, but being on birth control I wasn't sure, so I have taken 4 test and they r all neg. I look like I'm 5 months pregnant all the time and when I eat my belly gets really hard! I'm always tired now, but I have no constipation with mine nor pain... I'm very worried about this, and hate trying to dress differently so I don't look pregnant. I am a mother to 3, and find it very embarrassing when my 3 yr old rubs my belly and thinks I have a baby in there! If anyone finds out anymore info plz post! Thanks

I was thin 135 than started getting heavy in the stomach area felt hard this went on for months went to the doctorsaid wasn't feeling great weight still adding on just under breast developed high blood pressure started feeling hot face getting fat feet would swell up this wen on for several years finally had cardiac arrest it was a condition called cushings syndromehave your cortisol check lots of people have it and don't know it.